The Advanced Forming Research Centre is one of the UK’s High Value Manufacturing Catapults based at the University of Strathclyde. The centre there enables businesses to explore the opportunities of the 4th industrial revolution. Some examples of digital manufacturing technologies enterprises can explore at the centre include 3D CAD modelling, analysis methods (simulation), Virtual reality and more.

"At the AFRC, we see many opportunities for blockchain in digital manufacturing, and we look forward to working further with Wallet.Services and our other clients to explore the cross-sector applications of distributed ledger technologies."

-Rory Ingram, Product Realisation Technical Lead, AFRC

NEEDS

Blockchain is positioned as an enabler for traceability across the whole manufacturing supply chain and can be the backbone supporting the move away from traditional linear supply chains. With digital manufacturing becoming more at risk from cyber attack; cybersecurity, confidentiality and a single source of truth are important benefits that blockchain can provide.

Participants in a B2B network might be extremely sensitive about how much information they share. With blockchain, a business network can be designed in a way that supports the confidentiality requirements, understanding which network participant has cyber-secure access to what data under which conditions.

— Rory Ingram, Product Realisation Technical Lead, AFRC

SOLUTION

We developed a blockchain solution to transparently and securely track assets in multi-party supply chain environment. Our SICCAR platform allows organisations to collaborate on sensitive data and support multiple parties to work together with consensus, confidentiality, resiliency and scalability. All transactions about the asset are sequentially ordered, visible and immutable, creating a permanent record – a single source of truth - for accountability. The data recorded is digital, and so eliminates the need for paper. Reducing paperwork through digitally native processes in the oil and gas sector is predicted to:

reduce costs by 5%: in a multi $tn industry, that 5% is $bns saved.

Blockchain also promises to save 20-30% in costs versus traditional IT set-up.

IMPACT

There are many other benefits of blockchain for complex multiparty supply chains. All parties in a manufacturing supply chain involved in safety, security and compliance add to a critical asset’s record - creating a traceable, timestamped, queryable history of the asset's whole life. This queryable Chain of Custody facilitates quality standards certification validation by third parties, & HSE compliance for suppliers and customers through secure sharing of data by multi-parties with different roles and work processes.

Up-to-date and verifiable asset records reduce risk and ensure safety and order in commissioning, everyday operation, and decommissioning. Recalls of parts, field notices and safety alerts can be quickly implemented and corrective action comprehensively recorded on a tamper-proof blockchain.